With more than 250 asthmatic students in the Russellville School District, local school nurses are hoping to make life easier for those students.

All this month, district nurse Janet Roberts is bringing asthma education into the schools by teaching self-management to asthmatic children, increasing asthma awareness among non-asthmatic children, and presenting courses of emergency action for teachers and staff.

With the help of the American Lung Association of Arkansas, Roberts is presenting the "Open Airways for Schools" program to fourth-grade students with asthma at Sequoyah and Dwight Elementary schools.

Roberts said the Russellville School District nursing staff decided last year they would present Open Airways at the elementary level, particularly for fourth-grade students.

"I believe asthma has been on an upward trend nationwide," she said. "But there is also better recognition of it because of parent awareness and doctors' diagnosis. ... Either way, asthma is a problem we can do something about."

Asthma, a chronic disease and inflammatory disorder of the airways, causes attacks of wheezing, shortness of breath, chest tightness and coughing.

While the disease is the most common cause of school absenteeism in elementary students nationwide, Roberts said problems with asthma in local schools have decreased in recent years because of better medications and parent education. Student access to home and school treatments has dramatically increased as well, she said.

The program Roberts is teaching her students, which is specifically designed for those with asthma, teaches the students to become proactive in controlling their condition by educating them on the signs of an asthma attack and how to deal with one.

"By educating these young people to recognize their asthma triggers and symptoms, and teaching them how to manage their disease, we give them the chance for a better quality of life now and in the future," said Margaret Fizer, RN, BSN and asthma specialist for the Lung Association, in a released statement.

After completing the program, most students miss fewer school days and report fewer hospital visits, the release stated.

Roberts' goal is also to teach students who are not diagnosed with asthma to have a greater awareness of what to do if another child is suffering. She is reading the book "Zoey and the Zones" to more than 200 children at Dwight Elementary to increase their awareness of what asthma is and what a classmate with asthma experiences.

"The students get very into this presentation," Roberts said, noting because of time constraints the program is done during students' lunch hour. "We call it the 'Asthma Club.' And the students really participate well; I'm pleased with their response. ... They always ask when they can come back again."

According to other nurses in the district, 265 students in kindergarten through ninth grades have asthma. Their reports state 33 students from Sequoyah, 13 from Dwight, 29 from Center Valley, 42 from Crawford, 17 from London, 89 at the middle school and 42 from the junior high have been diagnosed.